The newest research about living with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS)/fibromyalgia, with personal observations
(the most pertinent parts of long articles will be highlighted for the reader)

About The Author

On March 4, 1988, I was diagnosed with Post-Viral Syndrome, which CDC soon decreed had to be referred to by the silly name "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome". My symptoms definitely traced back to a severe flu-like illness with a 105 fever for several days in mid-February 1987.
Despite relapses and increasing symptoms, I continued to work full-time as a legal secretary/paralegal -- even when I had no Quality of Life because I had to spend every non-working hour in bed so I could work the next day -- until February 2000, when months of severe sleep disturbance and ever-increasing symptoms (due to sleeping 2 hours or less a night due to the pain) cost me my job.
The doctors and judge didn't want to hear about failed attempts to return to work; they just assumed I don't want to work. "Don't confuse me with facts, my mind is already made up."
Since ADA will not force an employer to provide the accommodations I need, I started my own business so I could lie down whenever I needed to. I do proofreading and editing from home.
Visit www.CFSfacts.org or CFS Facts at YahooGroups or on Facebook if you want to learn the truth behind the myths.

You'll probably remember the last time you had the flu, but what aboutthat time you had measles – or was it chicken pox? Your blood knows:it keeps a record of every virus you've ever been infected with. Atiny drop of the stuff can now be tested to reveal a person's viralhistory.

The test, called VirScan, reveals that adults around the world tend tohave been infected by an average of 10 viruses over their lifetime. Itcould also be used to identify links between viral infections andmysterious diseases like chronic fatigue syndrome.

When a virus infects us, our immune cells respond by producingantibodies that neutralise it when they bind to specific proteins onits surface. These antibodies continue to be made long after the virushas been cleared from our body, ready to mount a quicker responseshould it return.

This means that their presence can act as a viral footprint – a cluethat the viruses they target were once in the bloodstream. To testwhether someone has been infected with a virus, expose a sample oftheir blood to a viral protein. If antibodies target it then the virushas infected the person in the past.

Stephen Elledge at Harvard University and his colleagues have pushedthis idea further and developed a way to test a blood sample for everysingle family of human virus in one go.

Gotta catch 'em all

Elledge says that all he needs to carry out the test is a tiny amountof a person's blood – less than a drop. It costs just $25, and couldhelp doctors identify hidden infections. "A lot of people havehepatitis C, for example, without realising," says Elledge. You couldimagine routinely screening people in this way, he says.

To develop VirScan, Elledge and his colleagues used an internationaldatabase to look up all viruses known to infect humans – around 1000strains from 206 viral species. Using this information, they recreatedthe DNA in each virus that's responsible for making its proteins, andput the DNA segments into individual bacteriophages – viruses thatinfect bacteria. Each bacteriophage then manufactures a particularviral protein on its surface.

When someone's blood is mixed with the bacteriophage brew, anycirculating antibodies latch on to the associated proteins on thebacteriophages. Sequencing these bacteriophages then reveals theperson's viral history.

David Matthews at Bristol University in the UK thinks the best use ofVirScan might lie outside of diagnostics, considering we already havequick and easy tests for individual viruses. "Usually when you've gota set of symptoms, doctors have a pretty good idea of what you'vegot," he says.

Moreover, the immune system takes a while to make antibodies, so youmight not find a strong antibody response in the early stages of aninfection. The test would also not be able to distinguish betweenantibodies made as a result of an infection and those triggered by avaccine.

Disease detective

Instead, the technique might be useful in outbreaks of new viruses.Understanding how our immune system responds to other viral fragmentsmight reveal clues as to which family the new virus belongs to, saysPamela Vallely at the University of Manchester, UK. "If we'd have hadthis test during the HIV outbreak in the 1980s, it would have given usa clue for where to be looking to find out more about the virus," shesays. "It's a really exciting technique."

As well as playing an investigative role in outbreaks, VirScan couldalso offer a way to investigate whether viruses are involved indisorders that aren't well understood. For example, Elledge's teamwill be collaborating with another group to test people with chronicfatigue syndrome, to see if they might have been infected with any ofthe same viruses.

"Multiple sclerosis is usually wheeled out as being linked to avirus," adds Vallely. "You could check."

Down on the farm

The team used the test to screen blood samples from 569 people fromfour countries – the US, South Africa, Thailand and Peru. As you mightexpect, adults appeared to have encountered more viruses thanchildren. Each person had been infected with an average of 10 virusesover their lifetime.

Matthews thinks it would be worth extending the screen to animalpopulations. He envisages screening wild populations of animalsthought to be linked to emerging diseases. "You could test the wildbat population to get a good idea of what viruses are out there," hesays.

At the same time, farm animals could be comprehensively screened.Farmers that are able to identify viruses affecting the health oryields of their herds might be able to halt the spread of thoseviruses, says Matthews.

"It is a fantastic piece of work and will be very, very useful," he says.